Author's note: Okay, I'm really sorry about the wait. I worked myself into a corner and I can't believe how much trouble I had figuring it out. Hopefully the story won't have any more breaks like that one.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

"You can't do that, Ian," Jacob told him, shaking his head. "Even a system lord as low on the totem pole as Frenush would take that aggression as an act of defiance that can't be overlooked. You'd be forcing him to declare war with the Tau'ri."

"Which will get a lot of people – including Jaffa – killed," Andrew reluctantly added. "We can't do that. It'd be irresponsible."

"Especially just for me," Shawn said. "I'm not going to let anyone die for some dumb prank I played on a system lord 20 years ago."

Ian scowled, but leaned back in his chair rather than snapping at them as he might have in the past.

"I'm open to other ideas, then…"

"Negotiations would be best," Jacob advised. "Open up a dialogue with –"

"No," Jack interrupted. "We don't negotiate with terrorists, I'm sure as hell not going to negotiate with someone who has repeatedly tried to kill my son."

"But-"

"Other ideas?" Jack interrupted once more, telling everyone in the room that that particular suggestion was dead and buried.

"Assassinate him." They all turned and looked at River, who met Ian's surprised glance. "What?"

"Assassinate him?" Ian repeated, incredulously.

"Why not?"

Before Ian could respond – which was just as well, since he wasn't actually against the idea, just surprised that it had come from River – Jacob spoke up.

"Because even though he's a minor system lord, he serves a purpose. If he were suddenly out of the picture and another system lord – even one slightly more powerful – took over his territories, that could change the balance of power in the area and could cause a lot more harm than good."

River scowled.

"So we let him get away with sending people to kill Shawn? And endangering everyone else in the process?"

Jacob looked helplessly over at Jack, who was scowling, too.

"We can't afford to kill him…"

"I know, Jacob."

But that didn't mean he had to be happy about it.

Shawn glanced over at Ian, and was a little surprised to see that he didn't seem to be paying attention. Which didn't mean that he wasn't; it just meant his mind was elsewhere just then.

"What are you thinking of, Ian?" he asked, knowing he'd need to be direct or he'd never get a straight answer out of him.

The New Yorker shrugged.

"I'm not sure yet…"

"You're not going to kill Frenush," Jack told him.

Ian nodded, not at all offended that Jack thought he needed the reminding. Years ago he might have still considered assassination, despite orders against it. Now, however, he was already heading a different direction. He just needed more time to think it all through.

"I know."

Sam leaned forward, aware that he had some idea forming. Her blue eyes met his dark ones.

"You'll tell us when you figure it out?"

He nodded.

"Definitely."

"Are you planning on figuring it out in the next few hours?" Shawn asked, looking down at his phone – probably responding to an incoming text. "Gina wants to know where we are and how much longer we're going to be."

"We're done here," Jack said, standing up and effectively ending the meeting. "We'll reconvene at Shawn's for the party – unless anyone has anything to add or any new ideas?"

No one raised their hands or spoke, but McKay looked like he wanted to. Instead, he looked over at Ian, opened his mouth and then closed it and shook his head, too.

Jack waited, just to make sure, and then nodded.

"Good. Everyone can think on it, and if we come up with any good ideas we can regroup tomorrow."

Everyone else stood as well – except Ian, who was still staring off into space, and McKay, who was still hesitating.

"McKay?"

Startled, Rodney looked over at Shawn.

"Yes?"

"Coming to the party?"

"Oh. Well… I wasn't… that is to say, I-"

"You're invited," Shawn told him, interrupting his hedging. "You should come."

Flushing slightly, the astrophysicist nodded.

"I will. Thank you."

"Good." Now Shawn looked at Ian, who had watched the interplay between McKay and him with amusement. "Whatever you're thinking about can wait, too."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Shawn grinned, but before he could say anything, Jack had a final say as he walked out of the briefing room and headed for the corridor.

"Don't make me late for cake, Ian!"

God forbid.

Ian shook his head, but he pushed his chair back and stood up as well.

"What are you thinking of?" McKay asked curiously as they lagged behind the group heading for the elevators.

Ian smiled, knowing that as curious as Rodney was, he wouldn't leave the question alone now that he'd voiced it. However, Ian hadn't thought things through yet, and while Rodney was as brilliant as they came – even moreso, really – he couldn't use him as a sounding board until he had a semblance of an idea. One that didn't include killing the system lord, when that was by far his first and best choice.

"You tell me."

With a challenge like that on the table, Rodney would try to do just that, Ian knew. McKay looked annoyed for just a moment, and then shrugged.

"Okay." His quick mind ran through possibilities as they walked, and as usual Rodney voiced them as they came to him. "You can't go after Frenush, we already established that. Not directly, anyway…"

"Right."

McKay looked over at him.

"So you're going to take a non-direct route…"

"Yeah. Once I figure out-"

"The Ashrak," McKay interrupted, figuring it out immediately. "You were in its head. You know all about them and how to get them to stop coming after Adams…"

Ian scowled. He shouldn't have been surprised; McKay was a genius, after all, and after working together for so many years, he was well aware of Ian's abilities. Even if he was overestimating them at the moment.

"I haven't figured it out, yet," Ian told him, temporizing, as they watched the others load into the elevator in the corridor ahead of them. "But it's going to have to be the Ashrak, yeah. We figure out how to stop them, and we take care of the problem without even looking up Frenush."

"Well, how do you stop elite assassins?"

Ian shrugged.

"I'm still working on it."

He could work on it while he ate cake, though, and spent some time with the boys.